Yuri Alexandrovich Bilibin. 1901-1952

Yuri Alexandrovich Bilibin, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. An outstanding geologist, founder of a new direction, regional metallogeny and compilation of metallogenic maps.
After graduating from the Leningrad Mining Institute in 1926, he began working in the Aldanzoloto exploration trust. In 1928-1929, organized an expedition to the little-known territory of Kolyma, according to the results of which he highly appreciated the prospects of this region for gold. In 1934-1935, he worked in the Yakutsk branch of "Zolotorazvedka". In 1935, he returned to Leningrad and began to teach a course of geology of gold and platinum placers at the Mining Institute. The main scientific result of these years was the famous monograph “Fundamentals of placer geology” (1938), a work unique in factual material and conclusions. This monograph, for the first time in world practice, comprehensively highlighted the geological features of placer gold deposits. During the Great Patriotic War, Bilibin worked in Central Asia, then in Moscow. He defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1944, a new period of his work at VSEGEI began, with which the creation of the Soviet metallogenic school was connected. During these years, his activities encompassed the study of uranium geology issues. The key methodological basis of the metallogenic concept was the idea of a close relationship between tectonics, sedimentation, magmatism, and mineralization. Under the leadership of Bilibin, VSEGEI compiled the first metallogenic maps of individual regions and made much-predicted forecasts. After Bilibin’s death, four volumes of his selected works were published. His work was awarded the USSR State Prize and other awards.